


unholy houses (we all need a place to keep our hearts)

by amaranththinelle



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/F, Femslash, Magical Petunia Dursley, Marauders' Era, Pre-Femslash, Slytherin, fiddling with timelines, listen this ship is my entire life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-26
Updated: 2017-12-26
Packaged: 2019-02-21 21:25:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13152357
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/amaranththinelle/pseuds/amaranththinelle
Summary: Petunia Evans receives a Hogwarts letter. This changes things.





	unholy houses (we all need a place to keep our hearts)

**Author's Note:**

> For this story to work out I had to change some characters ages a bit. Bellatrix is 6 years younger than canon here, making her the youngest Black sister in this AU. Petunia and Lily are 3 years apart in age (I'm not sure if Petunias has an exact birthdate in canon).

Petunia Evans was eleven years old and glowing like a star growing brighter by the second. She clutched at the piece of parchment in her hands, blinking her suddenly stinging eyes. 

She wasn’t crying, eleven years old was much too old for that, and besides, why would she be crying? She didn’t Ever cry. She scrubbed her eyes with her sleeve and read over the letter again, hungrily. 

Lily came bounding up the staircase and onto their room, out of breath and cheeks rosy. She had probably been outside playing again with that strange snotty boy, Snape, again. Lily looked at petunia with concern, obviously noticing that she was crying.

“Tuney, what happened?” She wrapped petunia in a hug, and Petunia leaned against her, enjoying her sister's warmth. 

“Nothing, I wasn’t even crying. it's something good. Lily, I got a letter. Our...” Petunia finally had a word for it “Magic is real. It's a magic school.” 

Lily read the letter over and over, just as excited as Petunia had been.

“Tuney, I’m so happy! We’re going to be learning magic! And things I can't even imagine! together! Isn’t that just so crazy? Like something out of a fairy tale!” Petunia grinned.

“Petunia and Lily, the two witches,” She said, as ominously as she could. Lily giggled and collapsed backwards onto the bed, springs creaking. 

“The beautiful, powerful witches,” she added.

 

 

That night as Petunia was laying in bed, listening to her sister’s soft, even breaths from across the room, she reached under her pillow and felt the glossy thick paper of the envelope. 

This wasn’t real. But it was. Exhilaration bloomed in her stomach, and blossomed into her chest. She knew this was real, she was magic just like her sister, and Severus Snape. The fact that she had something on common with that boy made her want to giggle, or possibly gag.

She had known, her whole life, that she was different, but not in a  _ good _ way.  Lily could make flowers bloom in the dry dirt alley behind the and practically  _ glowed _ with magic, something Petunia could see, even before she could put a name to it. But Petunia, unlike her fairy-dust-sprinkled sister, was shadows and whispers, and nursing scraped knees alone in her room after fighting with the neighbor boys. Petunia wasn't  _ bright _ like Lily, but she knew she wasn't _ Normal _ , like her classmates. 

She felt so happy, for once in her life there was nothing that could make her worry. Petunia gently put her letter back in the envelope and tucked it under her pillow. She knew this magical school would be the place of her dreams, and there everyone would be gold like her.

 

* * *

 

“So who do you think you are?” 

Petunia Evans is eleven years old and not even finished unfolding her socks into her drawer and already she is having problems with the dark-haired, wild-eyed girl who claimed the bed next to hers, against the window. 

(“Closest to the lake. Sometimes the mermen even practice cannibalism. A six foot six merman can bite the head off his mate easily you know.”) 

Petunia had decided she was someone to stay away from as soon as she spotted her. To her dismay, for some reason this girl had decided the opposite about her. From the moment her eyes caught on Petunia’s thoroughly muggle sneakers poking out from her carefully ironed but second hand robe, the girl had been practically circling her like a vulture, with a nasty mixture of glee and disgust on her face. 

“Evans. That’s not a pureblood name.” Petunia stood there stiffly, letting this girl judge her with her wild, delight filled eyes. “You’re a mudblood, aren’t you?” She said it casually. 

The other girls in the room watched, almost nervously. They could've been invisible, for as much as they mattered. In fact, for as haughty as this girl acted, the others seemed to avoid her as well, limiting their interactions to polite and respectful nods or hasty small talk. None of them had been jumping to sleep next to this girl either. Not like they were any friendlier to Petunia. “What’s a filthy mudblood like you doing, sorted into slytherin?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Petunia said stiffly, trying to ignore the use of what was obviously a slur. The girl grinned slowly, all her teeth showing. 

“Slytherins, we don’t like your kind. We know to stay above the filth.” She jerked her chin up in a Very Aggressive way. “You better watch yourself.” And then she stalked out of the room, going who knows where. 

(Probably to go skin a cat in the dungeons, Petunia thought viciously, turning back to her socks.)

“You’d best just stay away from her. She has a reputation for being...” Petunia looked up to see one of the other girls, wringing her hands. “Well, you know how it is. I’m a halfblood myself you know,” She said, almost in a whisper, as if she was afraid Black might drop down from the ceiling at any second and explode her ear off. “Some great aunt on my mother’s side had muggle blood, you know,” She hurriedly added. “Girls like us have it rather rough. I’m Emma Vanity,” She introduced herself, going as far as offering a lukewarm smile. Petunia gave a small smile back. Maybe not everyone here was completely horrible. 

 

* * *

  
  


Everything was completely horrible. 

Petunia had blood in her mouth and a sudden burning urge to take her broom stick and crack it over the head of the cackling girl in front of her. Instead, Petunia picked herself off the ground as gracefully as one could after hitting the ground face first. 

The flying instructor, some old wizard with a toothbrush-mustache, blew his whistle into her ear so loudly she could only hear a high ringing.

“You’re alright young lady, get up now. I told you very clearly, we were not flying on the brooms yet, merely mounting! Listening will do you some good, I think!” he harrumphed. “You, help her up.” He gestured to Black, who didn’t even bother to stop laughing.

“Need some help, Evans?” She sneered. “It’s alright, I understand. You are a mudblood after all. No one can blame you for being clumsy  _ and _ stupid!”

_ I’m not clumsy or stupid, you jinxed my broom!  _ Petunia thought with contempt. But, of course, if Petunia tried to tell the instructor that Black would only say “Why, professor, that’s ridiculous! How would I know any jinxes, we’ve only been here three weeks! We’ve barely even learned how to levitate a feather three inches in the air!” 

And she would be correct. Slughorn had eaten that right up when Petunia had told him the reason she had been late to the first day of potions was because Black had stuck her shoes on the ceiling. And, of course, even though all the other girls had seen her shoes hanging up there, soles stuck  as if by super glue, they hadn’t said a word in her defense. Not even Emma Vanity, Petunia had noted.

 

* * *

  
  


Petunia came back to the dorms after astronomy to find everything she owned, books, pencils, parchment, and quills, a soggy mess in the showers. She stood there, mouth hanging open, not even angry. She was furious, very much so, but she knew that would do nothing. 

(When are you going to stop letting her walk all over you?) 

Petunia left all her ruined belongings where they lay and went to steal a new quill and parchment from Emma Vanity’s open trunk. She had a letter to write.

 

* * *

  
  


She got her reply only a day later. It was a single scrap of paper, messy and in pencil:

“ _ From my mums book of jinxes and spells. These should be easy enough even for you to manage.”  _

(She could almost hear the sneer behind the words.)

 

* * *

 

Petunia felt a whole lot of anxiety about this whole thing, and the closer it got to bedtime the more she dreaded it. Black had gone to bed almost as soon as they returned to the dormitory after dinner, drawing her heavy green velvet curtains firmly shut. Black was a very solitary creature. In the dining hall she shoveled food into her mouth in silence, and left the table as soon as possible. Petunia had no idea what Black did all the time, but it apparently required a lot of alone time. 

Petunia was not cut out for waiting up until witching hours. She waited until the lights were off, only the dim glow of the floating candles casting a greenish hue on the dorm. She had gone over the words enough times to cast it at a whisper, aiming her wand at Black’s bed and waving it in a sharp twirl. At first nothing happened. 

(Why did she even bother coming to hogwarts if this was the culmination of her educational career to date?) 

The heavy, heavy mildew-green curtains rippled. Petunia’s hair was ruffled, as if by a breeze. The candles went out. The curtains were  _ pulled _ off their hooks, sucked in as if there was a vacuum, a black hole where Black was sleeping. They swirled around, becoming snakes that bound her to the bed.The entire universe was being dragged into the center of her bed, torn apart and compressed down into nothing. 

Black woke up with a shriek unlike anything Petunia had ever heard come out of her mouth. She struggled to sit up, but the curtains were on top of her, pressing down with a life of their own.  

The curtains were smothering her, Petunia realized. “Finite!” She cast frantically. “Finite incantatem!”

Black was scrambling off her bed, gasping for breath with hacking coughs. She glanced around, eyes landing on Petunia standing over her.

“What the fuck? What are you doing?”  Petunia lowered her wand, suddenly aware that she still had it pointed directly at the bed like an idiot. She wrung her hands around it tightly. Now that she had actually done it, she felt like the biggest idiot in the world. 

“Stop bothering me, Bellatrix. I’m not just some- some mudblood you can mess around with ok, so stop it.” Petunia swallowed. “Please.”

Black said nothing. She wasn’t even looking at petunia, instead at some far off spot on the ceiling. It was very quiet in the dorm, and Petunia almost felt sleepy again. Finally, Black snorted. 

“Ok,” she said derisively. “Alright, I’m-” She snorted again. She mumbled something under her breath that sounded almost like “sorry” “Can I sleep now?” She asked, raising her eyebrow.

“Sure,” Petunia sniffed. She didn’t believe she had won this so easily, not by a long shot.

 

* * *

 

  
  


The next morning at breakfast Black sat down besides Petunia. She almost choked on her muffin. 

“Where did a mudblood like you learn the unrestful slumber jinx?” She asked, without preamble.  _ So that’s what it’s called _ , Petunia thought inwardly. 

“What do you mean?” Petunia said back. She wasn’t entirely sure what part of Black’s question she was addressing.

“I mean, how did you get into the restricted section? And- and how did you even  _ do _ that spell? That was the best fucking unrestful slumber jinx I’ve ever seen!” Black had gotten progressively more animated the longer she spoke. There was a gleam in her eyes Petunia had never seen before. 

Petunia was a mix between pleasantly smug and completely confused. Why did Black seem so unbothered by the fact that her roommate had attacked her in her sleep? Was this just another layer of Blacks apparent insanity? Or was that a normal thing wizards did in the magical world?

“It wasn’t hard,” She said. Black barked out a laugh. 

“I can’t believe you actually attacked me! In our dorm! Did you break? Or- have you always been crazy? Was this your final straw?” There was actual joy in her face now.

“”What?” Petunia glared at her. “I’m not crazy! You’re the one that was harassing  _ me _ ! You threw all my stuff in the showers! And be quieter!” Granted they were sitting at the end of the long slytherin table, at least 4 feet separating them from the rest of their housemates. But still, Petunia didn’t want to be  _ expelled _ .

Black rolled her eyes. “Oh, please. It’s not like you are ever going to belong in this house. I didn’t want to make you feel  _ welcome _ or anything. What did you want me to do, Evans, bake you a plate of cookies? Hold your hand in the halls so you don’t lose your way?” She sneered.

“Wh- That’s not true. I’m not leaving slytherin unless you make me yourself.” Petunia sniffed. 

“I’m not trying to make you leave, I’m just telling you how it is. Mudbloods don’t get sorted into slytherin.” Black seemed to genuinely believe what she was saying, her tone almost confused. 

“Well I did.” Petunia said stiffly, turning back to her breakfast. “Now leave me alone.” 

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! you can find me on tumblr @honeykinds if you wanna talk to me about this au or anything at all haha


End file.
